by Dina Giolitto

It’s tempting, when the news headlines are screaming about government financial bailouts, to just sit there with your mouth hanging open as you ponder what might happen to your 401K.

However, in tough times, the LAST thing you should be doing is waiting for further instructions.

If you were a Boy Scout (and even if you weren’t), then you’re no doubt familiar with their catch phrase: “Be prepared.” That’s about the best advice anyone can give. And it’s especially relevant when managing a business.

When people start to clutch their purse strings more tightly, and supply and demand turns on its head, here’s what you need to do RIGHT NOW to ensure that your company stays afloat in trying times.

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Popularity: 18% [?]

If there’s any time to dream up a theme for your marketing, it’s NOW, before the holidays hit. Yes, we’re only just approaching fall… but before you know it, the malls will be decked with holly and teeming with Santa Clauses. Are you prepared for the deluge of competition?

Large corporations begin planning for their holiday campaign launches in the thick of summer!

Here’s a Christmas toy catalog cover that I worked on “back in the day.” I’m quite certain that the air conditioning in my cubicle was kicking when I wrote this.

Your holiday marketing event needn’t be an expensive or time-consuming affair. With a little creative input from you, Wordfeeder.com can help you launch a holiday campaign like this to drive more business in December!

So, the holiday season looms, and with competition fierce in a tough economy, it’s time to get out there, get known, and get more clients. Here are some holiday ideas you can implement in a hurry…………

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Popularity: 24% [?]

Join Me for a 4-Month Exercise in Productivity & Profit Building

The above sounds so corporate-bland, doesn’t it? All it means is that I’m setting a goal for myself to make X amount of income by the end of 2008.

The goal will continue on indefinitely, but December 31, 2008 will be the “check point” where I assess how it’s coming along, and if I can meet or maybe even exceed my goal. If I find that I’m in excess of my goal, super! Maybe I’ll set a higher goal and then try to reach that next.

If I miss my target income, then I’ll know that what I need to do is hire teams of people and set up automated systems that do the work for me - so that I CAN use my time more profitably.

Are you with me here? Do you want to try it?

Let me explain this process. It’s not new, I did not invent it; it’s just something that’s a really smart thing to do but we all tend to forget.

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Popularity: 27% [?]

by David B. Bohl

When we are young, we are invincible. There is nothing we cannot accomplish - no mountain too high to climb, no weight too heavy to bear. We believe we can do anything. If you do not believe it, go right now and try to give your teenager some words of wisdom and you will see exactly what I mean.

So when do we lose our invincibility? What happens to us over time that causes us to put limits on what we believe is possible? Most likely, someone along the way told us we were not good enough for them - that we did not have the skills, the brains, or the looks they wanted. We learned to judge ourselves, and came up wanting.

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Popularity: 58% [?]

If you’re making the transition from corporate to freelance, how comfortable are you in the new role?

Is it like a new pair of shoes; you’ve stepped in with both feet, but they’re giving you blisters — and you really just want to go back to those old, broken-in, full-time loafers?

I was interviewing a client the other day, for a new business website I’m helping her launch. She was telling me about the vast and varied experiences that led her to desire this new incarnation of her professional self.

She kept saying things like, “So then I had to change jobs again. We relocated to Missouri and I had to start teaching, because we had a family to support!”

My client sounded almost apologetic. Every time she mentioned a new skill that she had acquired along the way, she had to justify the experience as though it was a “bad thing.” Like she shouldn’t have changed jobs, or she shouldn’t have bothered to learn new things.

After hearing her repeatedly downplay her credentials and experience, it occurred to me why this client needed my copywriting support and marketing direction.

It was because *she still didn’t think of herself as a consultant!*

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Popularity: 66% [?]

About a week ago, I got a call from the local animal shelter telling me there was a 2-year-old boxer dog available for adoption. I had put my name on their list hoping to find a dog for my parents, who had just lost their beloved boxer to kidney failure.

I got to the pound, and there was a beautiful boxer dog, perfect in every way. Young, healthy, vibrant, with a pretty face and that famously goofy boxer expression. He was shy and bashful when I opened the door to his cage, but he gave me paw when I asked, and covered my face with kisses when I bent down to introduce myself. I quickly called my parents on the cell and encouraged them to “grab this one while they had the chance.”

My parents, being the old fogeys they are, had reservations. “Is the dog good looking?” “Do you think we’ll be able to handle a young dog?” “What if he runs off?”

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Popularity: 63% [?]

It doesn’t matter if you’re a Fortune 500 exec or a one-man freelancing show. There will be times when you look at companies whose services compete with yours, and your stomach will sink into your shoes.

How can you possibly live up to that, you wonder, gawking at what is clearly The Cleverest Ad Ever Written, or enviously scanning hundreds upon hundreds of comments on a blog that isn’t yours.

I’m here to tell you that just because your nemesis appears to be the best thing since sliced bread right now, it does NOT mean that you should throw up your hands and throw in the towel.

What it means is you’ve got to USE those jealous pangs to your creative advantage. Some tips and reminders from a copywriter who refuses to see success as a popularity contest.

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Popularity: 34% [?]